HOUSE UNIT REJECTS MOVE TO DECONTROL NATURAL GAS PRICES

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WASHINGTON, July 14—With help from some carefully planned parliamentary maneuvering, the House Commerce Committee today rejected a determined effort to decontrol natural gas prices.

The issue of whether to continue Federal controls over gas prices will now be taken up by a spceial House ad hoc energy committee, which is to begin meeting tomorrow. Regardless of the decision there, the issue is sure to be raised again on the House floor and later in the Senate.

Although deregulation had been defeated by a vote of 22 to 21 on June 29 by the Commerce Committee, proponents of the deregulation move had broadened their proposal in the hopes of winning additional support, and at one point yesterday they even seemed confident of a victory.

But today the proposal was voted down, 23 to 20, at the end of a tense and crowded session. The bill finally approved by the Committee contains the President's proposal to raise the ceiling on gas prices to $1.75 per thousand cubic feet from $1.45 per thousand cubic feet and to extend Federal regulation to the intrastate market.

Three Key Votes Lost

Three key votes lost by the decontrol forces would have provided more than the margin needed for victory.

One vote belonged to Representative Thomas A. Luken, Democrat of Ohio, who had said he would vote for decontrol only if it were made contingent on enactment of a tax on excess profits that the oil and gas producing companies might earn.

This provision was initially included in the decontrol proposal, but its consideration was blocked by Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the energy and power subcommittee, who claimed that such tax contingencies could not be considered by the Commerce Committee under parliamentary rules.

Mr. Dingell set the stage for his maneuver yesterday and this morning when he objected on similar grounds to other, less important motions. Such objectionsare rarely made in committee, and his actions provoked both sides to attend today's session armed with Deschler's and Cannon's volumes on parliamentary procedure.

Representative Harley 0. Staggers, Democrat of West Virginia and committee chairman, also came prepared for the parliamentary debate. In ruling out of order the motion containing the excess profits tax contingency, he read from a carefully prepared statement.

After the session, Mr. Luken said that he was still prepared to vote for decontrol if the excess profits tax were restored in the ad hoc committee or on the Muse floor.

Impact on Homeowner Cited

A second key vote belonged to Repesentative Martin A. Russo, Democrat of Illinois, who had privately suggested a deregulation formula that would include a ceiling price to ensure that gas prices did not escalate too rapidly.

However, Mr. Russo said yesterday that he would only offer his proposal if induswent along.

“The powers on deregulation didn't want to go for it,” Mr. Russo said in an interview. “Now they'll go to the floor with something less than deregulation.” The Congressman said he would continue to press in the ad hoc committee for his proposal.

The third critical vote belonged to Representative Tim Lee Carter, Republican of Kentucky, who was the only committee member to change his vote from the June 29 results.

“I became convinced that the Administration bill would be less expensive to the homeowner,” Mr. Carter said in an interview. “The homeowner is already paying too much.” Mr. Carter said he was now strongly committed to opposingderegulation.

All told, the Commerce Committee spent eight days reviewing the work of its subcommittee, ultimately making only minor changes. A provision that would have reequired houses to be insulated before they could be sold was dropped, but it was probably doomed anyway. Requirements that industry and utilities convert to coal were eased slightly.

Nearly all of the committee's attention was devoted to natural gas, an issue that has generated an extraordinary amount of lobbying on both sides. Day after day, the large hearing room an the Rayburn House Office Building has been packed. Lobbyists, reporters’ and Congressional staff filled the seats long before the sessions began, then lined the back wall, filled the aisles and spilled out into the outside corridor.

“I have not in all the years I've been here seen a bill harder fought and cleaner fought,” said Mr. Staggers in closing today's session.